The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has halted its 2026 presidential election after a cyberattack disrupted its electronic voting platform just before voting was due to begin on Saturday.
Voting was scheduled to commence at 12:00 a.m. on Saturday, July 18, but the process could not begin after the Electoral Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association (ECNBA) said external actors targeted the platform in an attempt to interfere with the election.
The ECNBA announced the development in a statement issued in the early hours of Saturday.
According to the committee, the e-voting platform came under a “deliberate, coordinated and sustained cyberattack” shortly before voting was due to commence. It said the attack was specifically designed to disrupt, sabotage and undermine the 2026 NBA national elections and described it as a direct assault on the technical infrastructure put in place to conduct the exercise.
The committee stated that its cybersecurity experts immediately activated emergency response measures in collaboration with the Election Voting Service Provider (EVSP) to contain the attack and restore normal operations. It explained that efforts were ongoing to neutralise the threat while carrying out extensive security checks to ensure the integrity of the voting system before lawyers are allowed to cast their ballots.
“The system is expected to be fully restored and voting will commence immediately upon restoration,” the ECNBA said.
The electoral committee stressed that voting had not commenced before the cyberattack occurred and that no votes were accepted through the platform at the time the announcement was made. It assured members of the association that the voting portal would only be reopened after it had been fully secured and certified safe for use.
The ECNBA urged lawyers across the country to remain calm and wait for further official communication instead of attempting to log into the voting platform. It also warned members not to rely on any website or communication other than its officially designated voting portal, www.ecnbaovs.org.ng, cautioning that unofficial links or messages could be part of the malicious campaign targeting the election.
Despite the disruption, the committee said the election process remained under its supervision, noting that all candidates, their agents and accredited observers were present at the designated monitoring centre where developments were being monitored in real time.
